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What's In A Name... *EDITED*

Naturally - being 26 weeks pregnant... names are on my mind! For those who have been following me long enough, or know me IRL, know we have the name sorted for the new edition to join us in April; but that doesn't stop me thinking!

What's in a name...??? I have been wrestling with a nickname for our wee boy when he arrives; we have always referred him Asher the Basher, he is seriously one active kiddo! But I wondered if maybe that was 'putting' something on him? My nephew was referred to as Munchkin ALL the way through my sis-in-law's pregnancy, as she ate more than she's ever eaten in her life while she was pregnant. He is still called Munchkin, and he is a GOOD eater... So I just kinda wondered - does this mean that if I referred to Asher as just plain 'Basher' on here; is this going to follow him for life?

So I asked Hubby - he thinks I way over-think things, and this question was no exception! His comment was 'He is who he is going to be, and it will make no difference what you call him on your blog'! And I decided at that point I was being silly - so Basher it is going to be... but a little bit of me still wonders, and will be watching him closely as he grows up, hoping I haven't influenced him too much!

This isn't just about nicknames either - names for our kids are important also... 'all' our kids are going to have a biblical first name, followed by two family names; that is just 'what we do'! In the bible it shows just what a major influence names have on their characters, so I want to make sure our kids have names that have a positive meaning attached to them.

For example - Mary, in the book we have chosen to use; means bitterness. Now that doesn't mean all Mary's are bitter, or that you turn out bitter either. But for us personally, we'd chose not to use this in our search for the perfect name because of that. We have also come to realise that each book has a slightly (and sometimes more than slightly) different variation of the meanings of each name - so we made a decision to just use one particular book, and go by that meaning. It was getting rather confusing otherwise... with one of the names on our short list, there is a wide variety of ways to spell it - and each different spelling has a different meaning attached; C.O.N.F.U.S.I.N.G!!!!! My Mum came back with another whole list again of spellings and meanings for it also - argghhhh!

So this is going to one of the ONLY posts on my blog that will have my family's names on it... here are the names we have chosen for our two children, and their meanings. And following them are our next choices, should we go on to have more children (the jury is still out on that one).

Lydia Grace Edna

Asher Luke Anthony

Lydia meaning womanly

Grace meaning grace

Edna meaning rejuvenated

Lydia was the only female name we could agree on... I had a short list which was instantly vetoed; but he had NOTHING. So one night I made him stay up while I went through the name book calling out female names I liked / didn't mind / tolerated. We already had the boys name sorted years before (as above), but finding a girls name when I got pregnant with Lydia was quite a marathon. Lydia was probably amoung the 'didn't mind / tolerated' section for me, it wasn't a name that had even entered my consciousness until I saw it and read it aloud; and yet this was the only name hubby even acknowledged that whole night, and by the time we got to 'T', he was over it all and decided Lydia was 'IT'! Initially I quietly decided I would need to discuss this again at a later date as I wasn't sold on it at all - but was far to tired for a deeper discussion then, and was just happy we'd finally kinda found something so bubs wouldn't be going nameless! But the name grew on me - and now I can't imagine her being anything other than Lydia - it totally suits her; and once hubby has made up his mind - that is IT! He wasn't going to re-discuss it at all (or so he says), and has the audacity to take full credit for her name these days????!!!!?????

Grace comes from my side of the family - my Grandma being Caroline Elizabeth Grace (but known all her life as Grace), and my Nana was Joyce Grace. It is also a name I have always loved.

Edna comes from Hubby's side of the family - it was his Nana's name, and as his Nana brought him up and played a vital role in his life; he'd always told me that our first daughter would have Edna in her name to honour her. Thankfully it has a lovely meaning also :-)!

Asher meaning blessed

Luke meaning luminous

Anthony meaning praiseworthy

Asher is a name that appealed to us both many years back - we had been discussing names (I LOVE names) on a trip back down south to visit the folks, and had been listening to LIFE FM (I am not a fan, but hubby is). One of the announcers is/was Asher, and we both looked at each other at the same time and said 'That's it - that will be our boys name'! By the time we got down that night we'd agreed on his whole name...

Luke Anthony being hubby's full name... there are other reasons why I wanted Anthony as the second middle name also, hubby didn't care what the second name was. But I have always liked that name, it also acknowledges hubby's Italian heritage - something that is important to me, but not to him. And it's kind of a tribute to our Pastor's eldest son Tony, he was the teacher that died in the Maungatepopo tragedy nearly three years ago now... however, we discovered later that he was an Antony, not Anthony! Never mind, it's the thought that counts!

The other names we have chosen, should Asher have been a girl... or we have a second boy are:

Victoria Diane Elizabeth

Jachin Dennis Gordon(pronounced Jaken, and the one with all the spelling variations - no final decision yet made on the spelling we'll use if we have another boy).

I know Victoria isn't technically in the bible - but it is a variation of victorious; and the bible is 'all-victorious' (hahaha)... although she'd have been known as Tori! Kinda got a bit stuck on that one - but we both love the name, and that was the only disappointment I had when we found out Asher is a boy; my first thought was 'Oh - I won't be able to have my little Tori Collins'! But I so totally DON'T mind :-)! *Sigh*, doesn't Tori Collins sound almost hollywood-ish, or is that just because of Tori Spelling?!?

Anyway, it's after 10pm here now... so I really need to sign off and think about bed. Morning comes WAY to quickly these days :-)!

24 January 2012:

So I have had a fair bit of feed-back regarding the nickname I had proposed for Asher (Asher The Basher)... most of it sent to me or spoken to me personally; rather than shared on here. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that maybe this is not such a great name to pass onto my wee boy - with that in mind, I have finally come up with another nickname that I am totally happy with, and one he can grow up with (kinda). So without further ado, from here on in Asher will be known as:

'lil M = short for 'Little Man'!!!! Cute or what!!!!????!!!!

AND the other thing I had forgotten to mention before is that we have tried to chose names that aren't to common (and therefore, hopefully, they won't come across others with the same name in their class at school), but common enough not to be ridiculed. For example - I love the name Ruby, but I'd never use it as currently it is like THE most popular name ever; there are Ruby's EVERYWHERE I turn! So instead, I had the great honour of naming Button's first Baby Doll, Ruby; I figure if I can't have one - she can instead!

Anyway - the point is, according to BabyCentre.comAsher is in the Top 100 Boy Names of last year (the above link will take you to that exact page just to prove my point). GUTTED... We have had that name for so long, and have been waiting very patiently to use it, and now it's not so original :-(!!!! Urgghhh, don't ya hate that!

Comments

Names are really interesting things, I think. Sometimes it is the meaning that tugs at us, and sometimes the family associations. We have a mix of both with Munchkin like you do with Button and really love his name (both nickname and real true life name suit him so well!).Lovely to be reminded of the meanings behind your names.

Our Little Miss has 2 middle names as well - each of them is a family name. She was also called Little Miss right from when we found out we were having a girl. The nickname stuck even post pregnancy and she is still refered to as Little Miss First name! Suits her well - I think she might be quite the girly girl with a very stubborn streak (not at all like her mother!)!

:) Had to laugh when I read this...as "Asher the Basher" is the nickname our 7yr old Asher has always had too. He is far from a "Basher".. He is a beautiful happy boy :) I like to tease him and call him Asher the Pasher...(had to kinda explain what a Pash was...he was so grossed out!) lol Did you know the other meanings for Asher are "Happy" and "Prosperous" as well as "Blessed". And I so believe that on our boy....and pray it for your little man too!! (Asher's ROCK!).

Don't stress too much about Asher's name being too popular... check out the NZ top 100 names for the last 7 years (http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Births-Deaths-and-Marriages-Most-Popular-Male-and-Female-First-Names?OpenDocument)

Asher doesn't feature in any years!! I think you can be assured he will have a beautiful and unique name (at least in NZ!).

I LOVE your names! Lydia is a name I detested for many years but now I think it is just beautiful. And I love Asher as well, it has made my list every time I've had to write baby names but unfortunately the husband doesn't like it. Looking forward to "meeting" Lil M! :)

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